Safety sash

ABSTRACT

A high-visibility, low-cost safety sash which can be worn over the shoulder and around the body of a wearer, and which is shaped to fit snugly and remain in place without any adjustments by wearers of different size and dress.

United States aii Inventor Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee Frank E. Matthews Reston, Va.

Oct. 30, 1969 Aug. 17, 1971 Matthews Research, inc. Alexandria, Va.

SAFETY SASH 1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl

Int. Cl Field of Search 192,198.91,1,197,310,311 3l2,305;40/21R 21C; 116/114 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS I 2,732,561 1/1956 Starr 1. 2/305 3.499.416 3/1970 Thorsheim Primary Examiner-Patrick Dv Lawson Assistant Examiner-George H. Krizmanich Attorney-Max L, Libman ABSTRACT: A high-visibility, low-cost safety sash which can be worn over the shoulder and around the body of a wearer, and which is shaped to fit snugly and remain in place without any adjustments by wearers of different size and dress.

2 F/Gl INVENTOR Hank E. Maflhews 03 f,

ATTORNEY SAFETY SASl-I It is known to provide vestlike garments of highly visible material for people exposed to road traffic, such as road workers, school children, etc. However, such garments are relatively expensive, too bulky to be carried in a pocket when not needed, and must be made in a variety of sizes to even approximately fit the wearer. The present invention provides a simple, highly visible sash at such low cost that it may be considered a throwaway item for many purposes, so small and compact that when folded it can be carried in the pocket or in a handbag, so that it is likely to be available when needed, and which is adapted to fit snugly a large range of wearer sizes, whether lightly clad as in summer or wearing bulky outer clothing as in winter. The sash is made of flexible material of high visibility using white, fluorescent or glowing" colors which are of high light reflectance. Any flexible material can be used, such as cloth, treated paper, plastic or nylon cloth impregnated with polyvinyl chloride. The latter is desirable in that it can be formulated to resist mildew, is strong, and is readily heat-sealable, and is therefore suitable for a permanent sash, but it may also be made of paper and be so inexpensive that it can be thrown away after a single use.

In order to reduce manufacturing cost to a minimum, the sash is preferably made of lengths of material with substantially square cut ends toreduce the length of the seam necessary to fasten the two ends together. Any suitable method of fastening may be used, such as cementing, sewing or heat sealing, the method chosen being determined by the type of material and the strength of the bond desired.

The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown. in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a strip of material from which the sash is made;

FIG. 2 shows a sash as made up from the strip of fig. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the sash as worn;

FlG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 ofa modified form of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 of the bottom portion of the modified form of sash.

Referring to FIGS. l-3, the sash is made by simply cutting suitable lengths of tape material, 2, perpendicular to the length of the material to form a strip as shown in FIG. 1, having two long side edges 3 and 4, and two short end edges 5 and 6. The length of the strip 2 will vary with the size of the user for which it is intended, although a given size of sash can be worn by a wide range of users, since the size is not critical. However, it will be apparent that a sash intended to fit a fouryear old child would not be suitable for a large heavy man, and therefore a certain amount of variation must be provided for. In practice, a range of three or four different sash sizes will reasonably well accommodate all users. The width of the tape is preferably between 2 and 6 inches, since a narrower tape than 2 inches is likely to twist and will not lie flat, while a tape wider than 6 inches is both wasteful of material, and more difficult to fit to a wide range of users. A preferred size for most school children is a strip in the order of 3 inches wide by 48 inches long. If the sash is too wide, there is also the problem that it tends to slip off the shoulder of a small wearer.

In making up the sash from the basic strip of. FIG. 1, it is joined at the ends as best shown in FIG. 2, so that one of the short end edges such as 5 is joined to one of the long edges such as 3 adjacent the other short edge 6. The geometry of the material is such that this forms a closed loop suitable for the intended purpose, in which the central portion 7 of the tape can be placed on the shoulder of a wearer as shown in FIG. 3, with the joined portion of the loop lying generally vertically against the body of the wearer. Since the sash conforms quite well to the body of the wearer, it does not tend to slip off, but remains comfortably in place during normal movement of the wearer. The wei ht of the sash tends to keep it on the shoulder of the wearer, w ile the bottom portion rests against the other side of the wearer and tends to keep the shoulder portion 7 from slipping from the wearers shoulder.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show another method of joining the tape ends to make up a similar sash. In this case, the tape ends 5a and 6a are symmetrically sloped at an angle of 45 with respect to the axial length of the tape and therefore also with respect to the tape edges 2a and 3a. When the ends 5a and 6a are joined and fastened together in any suitable manner, as shown in FIG. 5, a vertical diagonal seam is provided at the junction of 5a and 6a. However, the resulting shoulder strap configuration is the same as before, and provides the same advantages.

To manufacture the article at least cost, large rolls of suitable material, which may if desired be imprinted with a message, advertisement or slogan, can be slit into sections of the proper width. The slit rolls can then be cut to the desired length prior to welding or fastening the seam. The entire procedure of manufacturing this article is so simple that it can readily be adapted to mechanization by routine modification of existing paper-handling and similar equipment. The safety sash is sufficiently small so it can readily be folded up and carried in a pocket or handbag of a user. and thus be available whenever needed, which is a very important practical con sideration.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact embodiment shown and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of the invention.

Iclaim:

l. a. A one-piece continuous safety shoulder sash consisting of b. a tapelike rectangular strip of flexible, high-visibility material having inner and outer long side edges in the order of 24 to 60 inches in length and two short end edges in the order of 2 to 4 inches in width, said end edges extending perpendicularly to said inner and outer long side edges c. said strip having one of said short edges abutting and joined to the inner long side edge adjacent the other of said short edges to form a shoulder sash such that when the central portion of the sash is placed on one shoulder of a wearer, so that it lies substantially horizontally, and the sash disposed diagonally across the body of the wearer, the joined portion will lie flat adjacent the body of the wearer in a substantially vertical direction. 

1. A. A one-piece continuous safety shoulder sash consisting of b. a tapelike rectangular strip of flexible, high-visibility material having inner and outer long side edges in the order of 24 to 60 inches in length and two short end edges in the order of 2 to 4 inches in width, said end edges extending perpendicularly to said inner and outer long side edges c. said strip having one of said short edges abutting and joined to the inner long side edge adjacent the other of said short edges to form a shoulder sash such that when the central portion of the sash is placed on one shoulder of a wearer, so that it lies substantially horizontally, and the sash disposed diagonally across the body of the wearer, the joined portion will lie flat adjacent the body of the wearer in a substantially vertical direction. 